Salkantay Trek!

       I signed up for the 5 day Salkantay trek, as a few friends had recommended it.  Another girl staying in my hostel, Flavia from the South of Brasil, also signed up with me.  We had our briefing with our guide, Victor, around 8 PM the night before we headed out. 
      The van picked us up around 5 AM.  There were 7 others in our group, in addition to Flavia and I.  We drove to Mollepata, where we all introduced ourselves and had breakfast before beginning our walk.  We also organized our backpacks- everyone could give around 5 kilograms for the horses to carry until Santa Teresa.  So in the group, in addition to Flavia and I, are Javier from the Canary Islands of Spain, Kathryn and Teresa from Ireland, Isabel from Holland, Roberto from Northern Brasil, and Marie and Ameline from France (mother and daughter).  I rented trekking poles and a sleeping bag in Cuzco, but otherwise I was quite prepared with what I had brought from the States for my trek.  Below shows the route we took.

      

Day 1- hiked about 4 hours in the morning to where we had lunch, then another 4  in the afternoon to our campsite

A stopping point along the way

I believe her name was Maria Inez, at the ¨village¨ we stopped at



Sisterly love!

I shared some cookies with the girls!

Cow for Katherine!

    The first day we walked from Mollepata to our covered campsite in Soraypampa.  When we began our walk, it was hot and sunny.  We went through a short spell of rain, and by the time we reached Soraypampa I had on my hat and scarf and warm jacket.  As we were about to arrive, after about 9 hours of walking total, we came upon a sort of 5 star hotel amidst the vast landscape.  Some folks were being served Pisco Sours as they lounged in the hot tub.  I thought - "Okay, when my parents make it to Peru, I think they could handle that place.  Then we continued on to our campsite, arriving just before dark.  Only one person on the trek, Roberto, had a little trouble with altitude sickness.  Along with our guide, a cook and a ¨horse man¨came along with us.  The food was incredible, considering everything was carried on the horses and cooked over a fire.  Everyone in the group spoke English, and most Spanish as well, so we all got along quite well.

View of a very isolated home along our path

The "resort" mirage just before our camping site

The hot tub

 

Almost to camp, its getting chilly!

Approaching camp

Awaiting our first dinner together. Left too right is Isabel, Flavia (in red), Victor our guide, and Roberto with troll

                     

The horses that carried our tents and food, waiting in the snow


Our first night camping our tents were set up under a covering, as this was the coldest area we would be in.  It poured throughout the night, and most of us woke up at some poinit in the night wet, as it rained so hard that water leaked into our tents.  The next morning we also realized it has snowed in the night, and everything was blanketed in white.  It was a beautiful morning, though morale was a little low after a cold, wet night, and several people also had much of there belongings soaked in the night as well.  The second day was the hardest, as we had to to hike up for a few hours to get to the highest point in our trek. 

Left to right- me, Flavia (Brazil) Javier (Canary Islands) Marie, Ameline (France), Isabel (Holland), and Teresa (Ireland)

Heading out, day 2- I was feeling right at home with the snow!

I couldn't help myself!  Snow angels in the Andes!

Guides Victor and Antonio

Not quite like headstands on the beach!

Troll's first snowfall!

At the highest point on our trek

The Whole Group!  This is day 2, but after the toughest climb.

Cheaters!  They took horses up...

Flavia.... enjoying a little rest

Then came the rain

All in one day... wake up in the snow, end up in the cloud rain forest

Are second campsite-- luckily much drier than the first

Day 3- walking through the jungle... warmer climate AND more mosquitoes


Overall, I was SO glad I did the trek, despite some rainy weather on our hike up to Macchu Picchu, and a couple of whiners within the group.  I have kept in touch with just about everyone from the trek via Facebook, and hope to visit me friends in Brazil in the next couple of years!  The whole experience was amazing, and never have I walked so much in my life!  

Got a netbook!

Hey all you loyal blog followers!  Just wanted to let you know that now, since I have my own computer, I will be adding some more photos to many of my posts!  I start teaching on November 3, so I will try and get lots of work done on the blog before than!  Love you and miss you all!

Erica

Cuzco

Well, it looks like this will be my home for the nxt 6 months or so, I´ve got a job and soon will have an apartment in Cuzco  I start work in the beginning of November, teaching about 6 English classes a day, to teenagers and adults.  Below is a little Peruvian dance I saw the other night.

 Exploring Cuzco... in my first days here I got the ¨boleto turistico¨ which costs 130 soles (like $40) and so was able to get into several of the ruins that you may have seen photos of, along with a few museums in Cuzco, and this dance performance that you see above.  I got almost all of the holes on my Boleto punched within the 10 days before it expired.

Some other sites close to Cuzco explored:  the famous Plaza del Armas, where you can´t walk 5 steps without being asked to buy a painting, sign up for a tour, or pay for a massage.  This is where a little boy trapped me into buying a little llama finger puppet, now a close friend of troll´s.  Fortunately it only cost 1 sol. 

When I first arrived in Cuzco I stayed for 3 nights at the Pirwa Backpackers Colonial, where I met lots of great people and some day trip travelling companions.  However, knowing I would be in Cuzco for awhile, I had to find a cheaper housing option for a week or 2.  I found the Hospedaje Paraiso down the street, where they said I could have my own room for 10 soles a night.  That is less than 4 dollars.  Of course, I wasn´t able to meet many other travellers at this place, as most people staying there were locals.  Also, no hot water.  One bathroom shared between all the rooms.  I stuck it out for over a week, but now here I am back at the Pirwa, enjoying hot showers, free internet, free breakfast, and the backpackers social life before heading out for a 5 day trek to Macchu Picchu.

The view from my ¨budget¨hostel... people gathering to read the day´s headlines

My boleto turistico!

My ¨budget¨room... still a private room for less than $4 a night!

It seems like every day in Cuzco there is some sort of parade or celebration.  And every night is a party.  I have already resigned myself to only going out on the weekends (when I start work), though it seems every night of the week the discotecas and bars are packed with tourists and Peruvians.



There are apparently a lot of holy days in October, as you can see a parade with some sort of
Catholic figure (usually Christ!) and a full marching band almost every day! This one actually went right below
my hostel window and woke me up from a nap!




This was some sort of school parade... adorable!



Not even the rain can stop the festivities!  It was POURING and the parade in the plaza still went on!

 

View of Cuzco from above the city.  It is really quite vast, and has a population of around 353,282.  People from all over
Peru move to Cuzco because of the opportunities that the tourism sector here offers for jobs

Mountain biking to Maras, Moray and Salineras

Here I am!

             So my couchsurfer friend Lyne and I booked a mountain biking tour to the ruins of Moray, the village of Maras, and the salt mines of Salineras.  I think we paid around $35 for the day long trip.  The tour agency told us to meet around 9 AM in front of their office... so of course we were there early, some lady herded us onto a bus, minutes later to be told we shouldn't be on the bus.  When we finally found our tour guide, we were informed that most of the information that the people had told us when we booked the tour wasn't really true.  This happens a lot in Cuzco.  The group I travelled with in the Colca Canyon had a really bad experience- they paid for a Macchu Picchu 4 day trek with mountain biking through an agency in Arequipa, then once they had started on the tour, they were informed that the agency in Arequipa never paid the tour operator in Cuzco, and so they had to pay for everything again.  They sued the agency in Arequipa, who kept telling them that they would pay, but never did.  So anyway, once Lyne and I figured out what we were in for, and that we had an extra hour to kill, I had a little time to drink a coca tea.
            Once the other two people on our tour arrived, two women from Santiago de Chile, we took a taxi to get onto a public bus (the same that Lyne and I had taken the previous day to get to Ollantaytambo).  The bus dropped us off in the middle of a field with our guide and bikes which had been loaded onto the roof.  The bikes were not in good condition, but I supposed this is to be expected in Peru.  At least we had helmets, gloves and reflector vests.
            Below is what the first leg of our journey looked like.

     

View on the road

              Unfortunately, one of the Chilean girls had a hard go of things from the start.  At first we thought this was altitude sickness, but we were later informed by her friend that she was also very hungover.  The guide gave them the option to head towards Maras, as it was clear that we could not wait for the hungover Chilean or we would never make it to our destination.  So they went one way and we continued to Moray.

Arrival to the Moray ruins

Moray

Lyne and I

      From what we know, Moray was were the Incas did agricultural experiments, placing different crops at different altitudes to see how they would fare, and then growing strains of certain crops that could survive at higher altitudes.  Before the Peruvian government decided that ruins like these needed to be preserved, people used to come and do mountain biking and moto-cross here.

Heading to Maras

Me in front of the salt mines, Salineras, where most people in the village of Maras work.

Workers at Salineras

Me proudly sporting my safety reflector vest

The whole family was working to clean and process the salt here

Lyne on our extreme bike trail

Our last stop was the salt mines of Salineras, not far from Maras.  Here the salt is harvested from the river that flows through the valley.  Each level of the salt mines (salineras en espanol) has a different quality of salt.  The premium, and lowest level, is the salt that is sold for use as a condiment in food.  Then the next levels are of a slightly lower quality, used more in industry and agriculture.  Much of the town of Maras is employed in Salineras, working to clean the salt and process it.  The first workers that I saw were barefoot, stepping on the mounds of salt.  Somehow, what they were doing was part of the process of cleaning the dirt from the salt.  Whether or not that means their feet must be clean, I cannot say!

Part of the bike trail

        As we rode back towards Urubamba from Salineras on a major highway, rain looked as if it were imminent, but somehow we were spared and instead rode towards a complete rainbow.  A small local boy, about 12 years old, on an adult bicycle that was much too big for him, accompanied me much of the way. He of course did not have a helmet or reflector vest, but insisted on trying to race me if I tried to get ahead of him to avoid being in harms way. This was by far the most terrifying part of the ride, as there is very little space even for 2 cars on the highways here, and I had already heard of one tourist being killed while riding a bike on the road.  Huge tour buses fly by, often passing eachother, and clearly their last concern in your safety.  While the bright orange reflector vest and my helmet made me feel SLIGHTLY safer, I was ecstatic to have survived when we reached the bus station.  After sleeping most of the way back to Cuzco on the bus, Lyne treated me to dinner, and we bid farewell as she was off to the Inka trail the following day.